My day with Eva Green - top 4 at winter wonderland in Syracuse

[nitewolf9]

This is the deck I played to a top 4 finish at the winter wonderland event in Syracuse:

Eva Green:

4 tarmogoyf
4 tombstalker
4 nantuko shade
4 hypnotic specter

4 dark ritual
4 thoughtseize
4 hymn to tourach
4 sinkhole
4 snuff out
3 seal of primordium

4 wasteland
4 bloodstained mire
4 polluted delta
3 bayou
6 swamp

board:
4 engineered plague
4 leyline of the void (probably should have been yixlid jailer, but I'm not sure of that yet)
4 choke
3 umezawa's jitte

The deck has been in development by mostly me and Anwar for quite a bit of time now but I feel it is close to being optimized and is quite strong. It is a very aggressive build of suicide that thrives on early tempo and can go very well into the late game due to the nature of its threats and removal. I will have a write up on the deck at some point with more detailed explanations of the card choices and the name.
For now...
On to the report:

Round 1: b/g/w/u control with black planeswalker, deed, vindicate, swords, tombstalker, tarmogoyf, and other stuff

Game one: This is definitely a deck I am not ready for, as it has tons of removal for my dudes and a planeswalker that I have a hard time dealing with. I win the die roll and turn one play ritual hypnotic specter, which is sent farming. Then I assault his mana base with sinkholes and wastelands and drop nantuko shade and tombstalker. The game ends with him having no permanents on the table and staring down a big nantuko shade and 5/5 flier.

-3 snuff out, +3 jitte

Game 2: I don't really know how to board here as I only see the planeswalker as a win condition. Anyway, he winds up stabilizing this game as I don't have very much disruption and he removes all of my threats, and he gets liliana vess online and tutors for top when we are both in topdeck mode. I loose in short order as he is tutoring for whatever he needs every turn, namely removal for all my dudes. I see both goyf and stalker in his hand this game off of a thoughtseize, so I change my boarding plan.

back in 3 snuff out, out 3 jitte (opens me up more to deed)

Game 3 is closer than both games 1 and 2. I get a double ritual opening and play hyppie and shade. Specter is sent farming and he eats 4 from shade. Then I swing in for 2, play a specter, and specter is plowed on his turn. After that I swing in with shade, who meets swords and I gain a bunch of life. I play more disruption including a bunch of LD and then he stabilizes at around 7 life, but I am able to stick a tombstalker that goes unanswered for a single swing, taking him to 2. We play draw go but he has a top on the table and two uncracked fetchlands. I rip tarmogoyf off the top and play him. He digs for an answer with top, has to fetch away his top cards and activate top again, but only has 2 lands untapped and an uncracked fetch at 1 life. He shows me vindicate on the top of his library and we shake hands. Good match to start the day off, very exciting game.

1 - 0, 2 - 1 in games

Round 2: rsaunder with B/w deadguy ale

The last time I met rsaunder in a tournament was in the first round of the last running gagg I believe, and I was playing solidarity with him playing deadguy. He gave me a beating in 3 games so I guess this was my turn to pay him back.

Game 1: I draw the freaking stone cold nuts and I am on the play. My hand is stupid. It's something like ritual x 2, hypnotic specter, thoughtseize, hymn to tourach, fetch, swamp. Yeah, I keep to say the least. I opt to lead with ritual into thoughtseize instead of hymn in order to rip any possible answer to hyppie he may have, then drop the specter and burn for one. I see his had and he kept a one lander with top and a bunch of threats, so I take top. He plays land go, then I swing in with hyppie and hymn him, taking something like nantuko shade, confidant, and the land he drew off the top. He can't recover and I win.

+3 jitte, +1 plague, -3 seal of primordium, -1 snuff out (he plays jotun grunt, left 3 in)

Game 2: I look at my hand for this game and it is pretty much just as retarded as the last. It consists of double ritual, shade, tarmogoyf, fetch, fetch, jitte. On the play he goes land, ritual, hyppie pass. I draw for the turn, think for a bit, and play ritual into shade, then pump the shade. He swings in with specter, nabs tarmogoyf, and drops dark confidant. I draw for the turn, play a land, play ritual into jitte and equip shade, then pass. I didn't want to swing in because I needed shade to live as he was my only threat and active jitte is terrible for him. He draws, vindicates jitte, and swings in with hyppie and bob. I block bob with shade and take 2 from the specter. My turn I draw tarmogoyf and play him, then pass. Then I play tombstalker. He has dark confidant again I think but I draw plague (the one I sided in over the 4th snuff out) and play it on humans. The game ends in short order to 5/5 flying beats and a very large, angry tarmogoyf.
Great guy and opponent, I enjoyed our match, however ridiculous my draws were.

2 - 0, 4 - 1 in games

Round 3: Dominic (Happy Gilmore) with Cephalid Breakfast

Ah, paired against my first NoVA player for the day. Me and Dominic muse about how ridiculously in my favor this matchup is due to his testing with Zulander (who also played Eva Green this weekend) the previous night. It is favorable but I never underestimate the power of breakfast to just win no matter what with the right hand.

Game 1: Dominic plays lands which are wasted, sinked, and ripped out of his hand. He can't find vial or play anything relevant and he succumbs to specter and goyf beats. I don't see a single snuff out this game but it didn't matter as keeping them off of vial and 2 mana seems like a fine way to win as well.

Board: -4 sinkhole, -3 seal of primordium, -1 tombstalker, +4 engineered plague, +4 leyline of the void

Game 2: Dominic gets a very solid hand that consists of turn one vial, brainstorm, and combo pieces with force of will backup. I lead with leyline of the void and he plays his vial and passes. I believe I thoughtseize him, which is forced, and he plays a goyf off of his vial. I have play hyppie but I am being beaten down my tarmogoyf and have to deal with him or lose the damage race. I finally do, but dominic has the stern proctor EOT for my leyline, plays nomads off of the second vial he played, and then illusionist and goes off. Frowns.

Game 3: I lead with leyline, again. Then I do something that consists of turn one thoughtseize, turn two hymn, while he plays out nomads and beats in. He lead with the vial and plays tarmogoyf off of it again. I am staring down a scary board but goyf is still quite small due to a tombstalker that was forced and leyline being in play. He plays stern proctor to bounce my leyline and continue the beats, but he doens't have a hand and has no lands in play due to wastes. I rip engineered plage, drop it on humans, and clear his board other than a 0/1 proctor and 2/3 tarmogoyf. I go to 7 life and then find tombstalker and play him, making tarmogoyf a 0/1. He eot vials in another goyf, then plays another one on his turn. I smile as I look at a board of 3 0/1tarmogoyfs on his side, and a 5/5 flier on mine. Good times. Stalker seals the deal and I'm 3 - 0.

3 - 0, 6 - 2 in games

Round 4: Mulletus I believe with survival

Game 1: I'm not going to lie, I am pretty scared of survival decks. This was just a beating and a half though. He wins the die roll and leads with birds, and I lead with bayou pass. He then proceeds to drop turn 2 magus of the moon while I have 2 goyfs and 2 seal of primordiums in my hand. I cannot find the snuff out to deal with magus in time and he gets his board full of mongoose, magus, goyf, and shriekmaw (which he had to kill his own genesis with). He wins handily without survival.

-3 seal of primordium, +3 umezawa's jitte

Game 2: I am on the play but I have to mull to 5 to find a keepable hand. I lead with thoughtseize and see a hand of land x 3, spike feeder, engineered plague, and darkheart sliver. I think for a bit and take the spike feeder. He plays land go. I draw and play umezawa's jitte and pass. He plays the dark heart sliver and passes. I play hyppie, and pass the turn. He plays...fire imp, kills hypnotic specter, and passes the turn after swinging for 2. I draw for the turn...and it's shade. I play it and pass. He plays engineered plague on shade and swings. I draw again and it's...shade. Yay. I pass the turn. By this point I am too far behind and he wins without playing survival. What an exquisite beating.

3 - 1, 6 - 4 in games.

Round 5: Goblins, r/g I believe

I rally and prepare to face my next opponent, who I had scouted as playing goblins. Yay for me. I don't think I can lose to goblins with this deck and I'm 4 - 0 facing them in tournaments.

I win the die roll and we start.

Game 1: I play ritual hyppie, pass. He plays lackey, pass. I swing in with specter, thoughtseize him taking warchief and seeing matron, fanatic, and lackey + land. Then I snuff out lackey and pass. He plays lackey and fanatic. I then play land and pass. He swings with lackey and I block with specter, and he kills it with fanatic which is fine. I draw and pass. He plays warchief, swings, and then plays matron for piledriver and passes. I draw and play tarmogoyf, then play the hymn I had been holding on to and hit 2 piledrivers out of his hand. Then I play tombstalker and win.

-3 seal, -4 sinkhole, +4 engineered plague, +3 jitte

Game 2: He boards in pyrostatic pillar in against me, which is questionable but I guess he figures snuff out and thoughtseize would add up and be too much for me. In reality it hurts him more. I wind up playing plague and tarmogoyf, and at some point he has 2 pyrostatic pillars, warchief, driver, driver to my goyf. He swings with the team, and I respond to the driver triggers by snuffing out warchief. I block one driver and take 2 from the other. At this point I pretty much can't lose, unless I do something stupid. I do. I have a plague and a goyf on the table and he has 2 pillars and a driver. I have a second plague that I play, stupidly forgetting that pillar effects 3 cc spells and less instead of 2 (massive brain fart), and he catches the game I punted. Stupid me. I take a deep breath and prepare for game 3.

Game 3: This time I don't make mistakes. I get a plague down, a tarmogoyf, and active jitte, and then a second plague. He is in top deck mode taking beats from goyf and jitte, and has played a pillar on turn 2. His pillar pretty much locks him out of being able to grip my plagues/jitte AND play goblins. This game was a blowout. Plague and jitte combined with huge, cheap beaters is a gigantic beating for goblins.

4 - 1, 8 - 5 in games

Round 6

I am in 4th place and ID with one of the red thresh players into top 8

4 - 1 - 1

So, on to top 8.

Top 8, Dave Price playing RBGSA

Ah, a team member and friend, it's a shame we get paired as the only 2 unicorns in top 8. But alas, what can one do but prepare for a struggle of epic proportions.

Game 1: I think I win the die roll and lead with fetch, bayou, thoughtseize. I see an interesting hand without survival but some beefy creatures. I think I take tarmogoyf and pass the turn. He winds up playing birds, a couple of creatures, and then survival while I am blowing up his land and playing a goyf of my own. I eventually seal survival but he eventually overwhelms me with FTK, goyf, and friends and wins.

-3 seal, +3 jitte

Game 2: I have to mull to 5, but my 5 is pretty decent. I lead with thoughtseize and I see birds, taiga, forest, therapy, thoughtseize x 2, and something else I think. I think I take birds and pass. He plays a birds he topdecked, I snuff them out, then play shade and pass. I drop something like tarmogoyf, then jitte on the following turn while wasting/sinking his lands. I get jitte active but he wished for hull breach the previous turn. I get to gain some life off of it when he breaches. He eventually gets roffellos online but is still tight on mana. He needs to survival birds up to block specter but can't deal with the tombstalker I play as well because he is stuck on 4 mana and 1 life. I beat him after he realizes he has no outs to the board position.

Game 3: He leads with thoughtseize and sees my hand, which is dumb. I have fetch, swamp, hypnotic specter, tarmogoyf x 2, jitte, and wasteland I think. He thinks for a while and takes jitte. I draw, play fetch and then pass. He draws and plays birds and passes I believe. I play tarmogoyf and pass. He plays some creature that I can't remember and passes. I play another tarmogoyf, waste his land, snuff out his creature (that card is retarded...) and then swing. He falls to goyf beats in short order as he can't get anything going in time. I sigh and am happy with a victory against what is probably not the best matchup I could have seen in the top 8.

Top 4, Lan Phan with Ugr tempo thresh (waste, stifle, snare, no CB)

Game 1: I win the die roll and go swamp, go. I then blow up some of his lands with wastes and sinks and play threats that are all answered by force of wills. Eventually I have 3 of his trops in the yard but he finds a fetch and gets the 4th one out and plays goose followed by another goose. I draw lands and then seal and can't find a single threat to stop the geese.

-3 seal, -1 snuff out, -2 hymn, +4 choke, +2 jitte

Game 2: I mull to five I believe but eventually get jitte active and tombstalker out as well. He builds his board of multiple tarmogoyfs. Eventually I have him at 8 and swing in with tombstalker, but he rushing rivers back to my hand both goyf and stalker and I am unable to stop the beats from his 3 tarmogoyfs in time. If I could have found choke at all during this game it would have probably been a bit different, but I can't do much about a mull to 5 and my opponent answering everything I do. We talk a bit afterwards and my credentials seem to impress some people at the table, which was kind of cool. Sometimes you need to flaunt your triple Ph.D. education, especially when you had to defend thesis' on 3 vastly divergent fields of study.

So, I win 42 packs (11 lorywyn, 31 future sight) and pull a tarmogoyf, gaddok teeg, and some other goodies from them.
All in all a great event and I had an awesome time.

I don't usually write tournament reports but I think this section is required:
Props:
- Play the game, read the story for holding a great legacy event
- The people from Canada making it an international event, and kicking ass with a sweet build of red threshold
- All the epic guys and people I don't usually get to see from the source
- Kadilak for letting us stay at his place (thanks again for the sweet fbb bayous)
- Eva green for being amazing
- Anwar, and the rest of the NoVA crew for that matter, for developing the deck with me
- Eva Green for being so damn sexy, both in deck form and female form
- The Jackhammer, for providing the inspiration for Eva Green

Slops:
- Allen's front car seat smelling like farts
- Time crisis 3 for the guns being about 2 inches off target
- Losing the game like 500 times (I JUST LOST THE GAME, DAMN!)
- Long ass car trips
- Zulander, for not making top 8 with me
- Vedalken Shackles, even though noone played it against me
- Colosso, for being on speaker phone and blowing my ear drums

[zulander]

WTF I just lost the game. Yeah my 4-2 record wasn't good enough although it wasn't Eva's fault, it was mine :(

[Pinder]

Grats on the finish, man. And I especially like the deck name. Much better than 'Green Death'.

edit - Oh, and fuck you for making me lose the game

[Jaynel]

I had no idea what game you were talking about for a second, then I lost the game.

Congrats on the finish. What would you change in the maindeck/sideboard, if anything?

[TeenieBopper]

- Time crisis 3 for the guns being about 2 inches off target

QFMFT. I can't play the Time Crisis 3 machine in Cyberstation because it makes me want to actually go out and shoot someone. Anywhere else it's a one credit clear, though.

edit: oh yeah, congrats on the finish.

[nitewolf9]

Thanks for the props.

WTF I just lost the game. Yeah my 4-2 record wasn't good enough although it wasn't Eva's fault, it was mine :(

Don't worry about it man, the deck takes some getting used to. Still a very respectable finish. Ninth place sux though

I had no idea what game you were talking about for a second, then I lost the game.

Congrats on the finish. What would you change in the maindeck/sideboard, if anything?

As far as changing the deck, I'm not really sure. Leyline seemed fine in the board against breakfast and is really good against dredge, but jailer might just be better. The other debateable slot was seal of primordium, as I didn't really use it much that day, but it has been amazing in the deck in general and it is a bomb against landstill (I didn't get paired up against one of the many landstill decks there). I was never unhappy with it but I am always on the lookout for new ideas. Snuff out and stalker are straight up nuts though.


Edit: Also I think it was time crisis 4, but it wouldn't surprise me that 3 is just as bad there. House of the Dead 3 was awesome though.

[AnwarA101]

- Eva green for being amazing

- Eva Green for being so damn sexy, both in deck form and female form

YES!!! This is what I like to hear. Amazing deck named after a hot chick, what else can you ask for. Congrats to nitewolf9 for rocking the Winter Wonderland with Eva Green.

@Pinder: Quickly go post another picture of Eva Green in the hot chicks thread. I think this is an appropriate occasion.

EDIT - What did you think of Jailer vs. Leyline? Any thoughts?

[nitewolf9]

YES!!! This is what I like to hear. Amazing deck named after a hot chick, what else can you ask for. Congrats to nitewolf9 for rocking the Winter Wonderland with Eva Green.

@Pinder: Quickly go post another picture of Eva Green in the hot chicks thread. I think this is an appropriate occasion.

EDIT - What did you think of Jailer vs. Leyline? Any thoughts?

Yeah, more pics of her wouldn't hurt anyone.

As far as jailer vs leyline, leyline was fine against breakfast but with some discussion with everyone after the tournament jailer might be the better option (seems a bit less conditional against breakfast and dredge). I honestly think it is a preference call.

[J.V.]

Kudos on the deck its great! I've been playing it on Workstation and I'm like 12-0 agaisn't
Deadguy
Dragon Stompy
R Thresh
W Thresh
Angel Stax
and some random.
Great job with the deck, I love it!

[nitewolf9]

Kudos on the deck its great! I've been playing it on Workstation and I'm like 12-0 agaisn't
Deadguy
Dragon Stompy
R Thresh
W Thresh
Angel Stax
and some random.
Great job with the deck, I love it!

Glad to hear you like the deck! It's very strong and more importantly a blast to play.

[AnwarA101]

Yeah, more pics of her wouldn't hurt anyone.

As far as jailer vs leyline, leyline was fine against breakfast but with some discussion with everyone after the tournament jailer might be the better option (seems a bit less conditional against breakfast and dredge). I honestly think it is a preference call.

Is it possible that Leyline or Jailer are just different for different matchups? Like Leyline can't be countered or Thoughtseized against Breakfast, but Jailer might be better against Ichorid because they have a hard time answering it. Jailer can also be a beater albeit a very bad one.

[nitewolf9]

Is it possible that Leyline or Jailer are just different for different matchups? Like Leyline can't be countered or Thoughtseized against Breakfast, but Jailer might be better against Ichorid because they have a hard time answering it. Jailer can also be a beater albeit a very bad one.

True, but jailer can also be therapied out of your hand against ichorid before you get a chance to play it. I think there are pro's and cons to both but I still think I like leyline as I've had success with it when I've needed it.

[Bovinious]

It seems like you SB out Seal for Jitte an awful lot, I think the 3 MD slots would be better served as Jitte and Seal SB but maybe thats just me.

I think Jailer would probably be a better solution to any GY deck (basically Breffix and Ichorid) because it is also a clock, especially when holding a Jitte. And its also not a dead draw after turn 0, which is always a plus.

[AnwarA101]

It seems like you SB out Seal for Jitte an awful lot, I think the 3 MD slots would be better served as Jitte and Seal SB but maybe thats just me.

I think Jailer would probably be a better solution to any GY deck (basically Breffix and Ichorid) because it is also a clock, especially when holding a Jitte. And its also not a dead draw after turn 0, which is always a plus.

You can ritual into Leyline on turn 2 so its not always a dead draw. I don't know about Jitte in the main as it costs 4 mana to do anything with it and its really bad against removal.

[Bovinious]

You can ritual into Leyline on turn 2 so its not always a dead draw. I don't know about Jitte in the main as it costs 4 mana to do anything with it and its really bad against removal.

Well you can just play Jailer on turn 2 with 2 Swamps...the only downside is Jailer could get Thoughtseized or Therapyed away, but I think that may be countered by the fact he is a clock and a better draw past turn 0.

The only reason I advocate Jitte MD is because in the tourney report it seems he SBed out Seal and Sbed in Jitte practically every game, I think thats telling.

[nitewolf9]

The only reason I advocate Jitte MD is because in the tourney report it seems he SBed out Seal and Sbed in Jitte practically every game, I think thats telling.

I boarded in jitte in round 1 because I thought snuff outs were dead after the first game, but I found out he played goyf so I took them back out. It did not come in against breakfast - good but too slow sometimes whereas seal can let you win with ld by nailing vial game 1, and seal is still good against goblins, just not as good as jitte when you also have plague (you change the entire ld strategy to a creature control strategy).

Jitte is bad against control and storm combo, and it does not deal with counterbalance...which is why I like seal a bit more (although it was dead against the thresh decks not running counterbalance).

I am not going to dismiss the suggestion of running jitte main, I used to run it main in mono black suicide in the pre-red death days, but I'm not sure if it's more or less narrow than seal.

[AnwarA101]

Well I think boarding out Seal might be fine, especially if you have better cards for that matchup in the board and Seal is the most situational of those cards. That isn't to say Seal was bad in those matchups, but maybe not nearly as good as the cards that were waiting in the board.

[Whit3 Ghost]

Grats on the finish, even if you did end up taking out a good friend and teammate of mine.

And I'd have to echo the questioning of Seal, is it really the best slot there? I know you and Anwar have done a lot of testing, I just am not sure of those slots.

And how have Sinkholes been for you?

[Obfuscate Freely]

Eva Green took me to the finals of the small side tournament after I scrubbed out of the main event. The only changes I made to the list is to run the fourth Bayou over a Swamp, and to run Jailers over Leylines.

Seal of Primordeum was great for me, although I got paired against Landstill twice. It was quite a beating to Seal an Engineered Explosives with three counters on it, while my opponent was locked under a Choke.

The deck is good enough that I almost wish that I had played it in the main event, and I'm not at all surprised that the two people that did play it placed so well. Congratulations to both of you.

[AnwarA101]

The deck is good enough that I almost wish that I had played it in the main event, and I'm not at all surprised that the two people that did play it placed so well. Congratulations to both of you.

Don't ever say I didn't try.